What Mistakes Did You Make in 2009?

[baddison]

I suffered a lot of breakage during this last stretch. I normally stretch 13weeks - no problem. However for this last 13 week stretch, I decided to add Nioxin vitamins and additional biotin to my daily vitamin intake. Wwhhoooaaaa....my new growth shot out like crazy. Because I wasn't keeping it as moist as I thought, I got breakage. I thought I was doing good by using my Jilbere to detangle the "forest" daily....WRONG, I got MORE breakage. Finally, I just stopped combing/detangling at all except 2x's per week on wash days. Great! - but the damage was already done. I got breakage. *sigh* Becasue I know that applying chemicals to my hair less frequently is a good thing, I plan on continuing stretching, but BOY did I learn a lot of what NOT to do next time. Hoping the broken areas grow back in really soon.

 

[brucebettye]

The mistake I made this year was using the 2 step Aphogee protein treatment and using cantu shea butter for a while after I did the treatment. I had a so much breakage and had to give myself a trim. Those products are too strong of a protein for me.

 

[NerdSauce]

COLOR!

Stopping co-washing instead of just adding some light protein conditioners..

Wearing my hair out (in its natural, unstretched state) waaaaaaaay too often (pretty much all the time.)

Being inconsistent.

 

[tailormade84]

not moisturizing daily....not DC weekly....not washing my hair weekly

(thats first trimester was rough - hair took the BACK seat!)

 

[NYLegalNewbie]

Not taking care of my ends and wearing my hair out too much.

I discovered too late that I can still sport a cute updo when I have my hair in a twist out.

My stylist recently pointed out that, except for the ends, I had a beautiful, thick head of healthy hair, but that my ends really needed a lot of care.

 

[spelmanlocks]

I will say stretching also. I have lost so much hair this year from it.

 

[Tif392002]

the mistake i made in 09, is the one i been making for years. Plain old neglecting my hair... I just started taking control of it in Aug. 09, thanx ladies for posting your mistakes, cuz i sure dont need to make any.

 

[sqzbly1908]

Texlaxing and Frequent Trimming...I could have gone a little longer between trims but I wanted to get rid of those No-Lye ends...

My hair is too fine for the texlaxing...

 

[MsSharee06]

Stretching my relaxers and not moisturizing my hair enough, and jumping on everyone's bandwagon. I'm going to stick with my staple products for 2010.

 

[kryolnapps]

letting someone cornrow my already fragile edges for a weave I kept way too long. I also did not take care of my ends. I had to cut more than 2 inches and my edges are almost gone. Hopefully 2010 will be better!

 

[shasha8685]

Not leaving my stylist sooner and waiting too long to try Mizani Thermasmooth.

Every time I would get a relaxer from her, my hair would look/ feel very weak and looked awful! After my 3rd relaxer of the year (in August), I decided that I would not be going back for relaxers. I tex-laxed my hair in November and my hair has regained its thickness. My hair is a thousand times better and the longest part of my hair is full NL.

About the Mizani.....it helps me stretch my relaxers longer which is a blessing since I only relax 4 times a year.

 

[afrocentric_soul]

Letting my stylist do my hair for a photo shoot. Unfortunately she did not have my hair's health in mind when she added this permanent color on relaxed hair that had already been colored months before and was breaking...now I have a real mess on my hands. Thank God I found this site, and hopefully, I'll be on the road to recovery in 2010.

 

[BklynHeart]

- A certain conditioner was thinning out my hair, but I didn't notice it at first. Now I'm trying to get my thickness back.

- Letting a hairdresser (who is actually natural herself), blow-dry and flat iron my hair. The next day my hair smelled like hot heat and when I washed and air-dried I still had a few straight pieces left in my hair.

 

[mspaula77]

Hello everyone! Glad to see I wasn't the only one making mistakes. I was doing good when I started last year in November...I've made progress but I know for sure it could have been better. I'd just joined Traycee's KISS network and was sooo excited. BTW, I still love that site! Around summertime is when I started getting lazy. I wrote down a regimen but have yet to stick to it...being back online and joining LHCF has built my inspiration back up though....I know I'm rambling but my main mistake is just not sticking to a regimen and just being plain lazy...Now I look at how fast the year has gone by and realized I could have done so much more and would have had more length...eventually I'll get pics up soon!

Oh yeah! One thing I am consistent with is relaxing every 3 months...At one point I was going to transition but realized I can only go 3 months...so my next relaxer is on the 20th of this month. I'm definitely sticking with that!

 

[Esq.2B]

I didn't use enough protein. Also, I let a couple of stylists rip the comb through my hair after I didn't use a DC w/ proper slip on a couple of occassions. Finally, I was using no-lye relaxers, instead of lye-relaxers.

Fortunately, I got the first 2 situations under control during the first half of the year when I introduced regular protein treatments into my regimen, and I haven't gone back to another stylist.

I just switched to lye relaxers during my last relaxer in November. I'm much happier with it already. No-lye really dulled my hair out.

I wish I would've realized that my hair loves protein earlier in my journey. I also which I would've used lye instead of no-lye, earlier in my journey. I would probably be a thick, shiny BSL right now. I'm hoping to be there by June 2010 though or the end of 2010 the absolute latest.

 

[lolascurls]

I would say it was stretching too long at points. When I stretched longer than 12 weeks, I was sure to get breakage because I couldn't tell if what I had been doing was making my hair worse.
Not trying Spirulina sooner! (1 inch in 5 weeks! -the TRUTH!)
Not realizing that when I cornrow my own hair, i would get single strand knots when loosening the ends after 1 week. Now I add some synthetic hair to the style and voila.....I can even co-wash in the braids then loosen them to have SOFT UNTANGLED HAIR!
Co-washing too often early in the year and not adding in protein conditioners or leave-in conditioners early enough! My hair is SO STRONG with Organics Leave-in MAYO!

 

[goodmorningruby]

Using Phyto.
BKT.
Trimming a little too much.
Letting my edges begin to thin.
Neglecting my ends often.

 

[Angel of the North]

My mistake for 2009 was to jump on the Phytospecific Cap Energy bandwagon, after about 2-3 wks my hair started to break due to the protein overload.

I really didn't need it as I have a high protein diet anyway!

 

[DeenIsFirst]

I did a wash n' go a few weeks ago and left it out for about 4 days while re-wetting each day. Big no-no! I now have single strand knots on almost all of my ends. I didn't feel like cutting it so I had my mom braid it up. Will revisit cutting the ends when I take the braids out. About a half inch of progress... GONE.

 

[ParagonTresses]

As a new natural I'd say the biggest mistake I made was listening to others without listening to my hair. I made things too complicated, spent lotsa money and confused myself trying to figure out what's "bad" and what isn't. Lucky I had no setbacks...

 

[orchidgirl]

Not looking after my ends....I would have achieved great lengths this year..but..nope! So in 2010..It all about the ends and maintenance. My goals have changed a bit now with my daughter but I want healthier hair and healthy ends. It not so much about the length...

 

[Kellum]

Not trimming my hair or dusting for 8 months. I must stay on a regular dusting/trim schedule in order to keep my ends healthy.

 

[MyAngelEyez~C~U]

using synthetic hair for a set of braids (thinned my ends, lost about 1.5 inches).

 

[Truth]

Letting my ends go 2 *blah*.. I'm on healthy ends patrol now!!

 

[Sweet Charm]

long stretches
texlaxing
not combing frequently enough
constant buns

 

[Ozma]

Too much trimming, instead of actually caring for my ends (why did I sleep on baggying for so long?). I should be nearing APL, but here I am back to SL

 

[chebaby]

my mistake was thinking that because my moisture was on point during the summer that this winter would be easy sailing. ummm no. this is my first winter natural and the winds aint playing. but i caught it early and am doing what i need to do.

 

[Aviah]

Trimming too much
Falling off hair care wagon a little (letting hair dry up, shrink up, not detangling WnGs)
Tresemme Conditioners (wondering why my hair was so dry)
Rough handling/not enough PSing

 

[Tolle]

Texlaxing and Frequent Trimming...I could have gone a little longer between trims but I wanted to get rid of those No-Lye ends...

My hair is too fine for the texlaxing...

What do you mean "too fine for texlaxing" i thought this was a way for thin haired chicas to appear thicker. wassup with that?? what did it do to your hair? Im thin and trying to decide whether to relax or texlax after my stretch.

 

[poookie]

i HATE to say this... but...

henna was my biggest mistake.